A Manual of Writer's Tricks: Essential Advice for Fiction and Nonfiction Writers - Softcover

Carroll, David L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1569246076 ISBN 13: 9781569246078

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2000

Synopsis

The author of How to Prepare Your Manuscript for a Publisher now presents more essential advice for fiction and nonfiction writers. This invaluable reference offers easy access to stratagems and tried-and-true literary shortcuts that help writers save time, improve style and avoid common pitfalls. Whether a beginner or student, amateur or professional, readers will refer time and again to David Carroll's practical tips for: writing with expression; improving structure; correcting and rewriting with greater efficiency; developing "writer's logic"; avoiding the hazards of burnout, boredom and lack of motivation; dealing with writer's block; and reworking scholarly prose for greater clarity.

About this title

Review

The bane of the bookstore appearance, for many touring authors, is the post-reading Q&A. "What time of day do you write?" is a typical question. "Do you use a computer, or pencil and paper?" If only the audience members could figure out whether morning or afternoon is best, laptop or No. 2 lead, then they, too, could write a great American novel. If only they knew the tricks that published authors know.

So it's understandable that David L. Carroll called his book A Manual of Writer's Tricks. There are tricks here--what to do when you're stuck, how to write about dry subjects, how to find authentic period words, how to improve your opening (try cutting your first page altogether, Carroll advises, as it's often the victim of "stage fright"). Carroll's quotations by other writers spruce up his text smartly. There is probably plenty of information in this book that would be of use to the beginning writer. But it is all so haphazardly and superficially presented that one could hardly deem it, as the book's subtitle purports, "essential advice." And some of the recommendations, such as avoiding "frequent repetition of a character's name by varying names and descriptions," seem outright wrong. Even more, one wishes Carroll had taken his own advice and trimmed some of the excess verbiage off this already slim volume. It's hard to trust a writer who hasn't made sure that he himself has homed in on (not, horrors, as he writes here, "honed in on") all the right words. Jane Steinberg

About the Author

David L. Carroll, a graduate of Harvard University, is an Emmy Award-winning television writer and the author of nearly fifty books, including How to Prepare Your Manuscript for a Publisher.

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1569246076
• ISBN 13: 9781569246078
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 144